The Happy Cook: 125 Recipes for Eating Every Day Like It's the Weekend

Nerdy Birdy

Letters from Paris

American Cake

The Secret Garden

The Rose

A History of the Fragrant Rose

Monday, December 27, 2010

The first day of winter was December the 21st, and she has certainly made her presence known here in Raleigh, NC. It has just snowed for the third time this month, gifting us with a white Christmas. What better time to stay inside and craft a charming necklace and to read a bit of classic poetry?

ROBIN REDBREAST ~By William Allingham~
(1824-1889) Good-by, good-by to Summer! For Summer's nearly done;The garden smiling faintly, Cool breezes in the sun;Our thrushes now are silent, Our swallows flown away,--But Robin's here in coat of brown, And scarlet breast-knot gay. Robin, Robin Redbreast, O Robin dear! Robin sings so sweetly In the falling of the year.Bright yellow, red, and orange, The leaves come down in hosts;The trees are Indian princes, But soon they'll turn to ghosts;The scanty pears and apples Hang russet on the bough;It's Autumn, Autumn, Autumn late, 'Twill soon be Winter now. Robin, Robin Redbreast, O Robin dear! And what will this poor Robin do? For pinching days are near.The fireside for the cricket, The wheat-stack for the mouse,When trembling night-winds whistle And moan all around the house.The frosty ways like iron, The branches plumed with snow,--Alas! in Winter dead and dark, Where can poor Robin go? Robin, Robin Redbreast, O Robin dear! And a crumb of bread for Robin, His little heart to cheer!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Rose & Robin Adornments is head over heels for anything vintage (including ephemera, or paper collectibles) and for anything pink. Inspired by the bar of rose-pink Dove which is sitting prettily in a dish in my powder room, I decided to pull out my vintage advertisement for the soap...hope you "get the picture."

Dove soap is a classic in the world of bath and beauty. For whatever reason, I hadn't thought much about it's petal-scented pink cousin in quite a while--out of sight, out of mind? It isn't carried in just about every drugstore and supermarket, as is the original white bar. One day, I happened into a local Food Lion store, and as I was perusing the beauty aisle, lo and behold, there on the shelf sat a stack of Pink Dove boxes! I was caught quite off-guard, as Food Lion was the last chain store at which I would have expected to find a specialty soap that can be scarce. Have I ever seen it at Harris Teeter? Nope. Eckerd Drug? Nope. Kerr Drug? Nope. WalMart? Nope. Target? Nope. You get the picture!

As it turns out, I just happen to have a vintage pink rotary dial telephone, which it appears the lovely lady in the ad might be using. Perhaps this is another gift idea--these old phones are sturdy and reliable, though the ringer on mine can be a tad startling to the ear if I'm sitting really close by when it brrrrrrings! A telephone might not exactly fit into a stocking, but again, I think you get the picture!

As Laura Ingalls Wilder once said, "It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all." So instead of getting in a lather, drop a few of these pink treats into your own stocking and into your loved ones' stockings, take a warm bubble bath while you phone them to say hello, and perhaps even paint your nails pink--sounds like a surefire way to get tickledpink!

And let it never be said of you what Dame Elizabeth Taylor has admitted to:

"I fell off my pink cloud with a thud."

mErRy ChRiStMaS!!!

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Here is a link to those perfectly lovely bars of perfumed pink goodness on drugstore.com.